Talk about state of the art.Auto insurance giant Progressive Corp. “boasts one of the most extensive contemporary art collections in the corporate world,” according to this feature from Forbes.com.At the company's Mayfield Village headquarters, “a walk down the stairs is a little more exciting than at most companies,” Forbes.com notes. “The main stairwell is draped with candles, steel, wire, silk flowers and ribbons all dripped in wax.”The installation, by artist Petah Coyne, gives the space the feel of a “haunted ballroom,” says Kristin Rogers, art education and communications manager for the Progressive Collection.The collection is more than just decorative, as Progressive officials says the company “uses the art to encourage its employees to think creatively.”Forbes.com says it consulted “a range of writers, art advisers and curators” to come up with a list of the world's best corporate art collections. The best collections, those experts say, “use art to improve lives and to educate,” according to the website.The list isn't ranked, but joining Progressive on it are Bank of America, Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan Chase, Microsoft and UBS.This and thatMake it stop: Soon, Mitt Romney will pick his running mate, and this will all be over.But if you're a political obsessive, by all means read The Washington Post's (possibly) final take on the race to be VP, which still puts Sen. Rob Portman of Cincinnati in the top spot. He's followed, in order, by former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.Sen. Portman “continues to hold down the top spot … because he ranks so highly in the area we know Romney values most: the ability to do the job,” The Post says. “That Portman also represents among the least risky picks (he has been vetted six ways to Sunday for past Administration jobs and during his 2010 Senate bid), that he is from Ohio (the swing state Romney must have) and that he is a budget/spending expert at a time when those issues are at the fore of voters' minds strengthen Portman's case.”

Special delivery: Reuters reports that a quality improvement program “can cut by 60% the number of deliveries scheduled a few weeks before the due date,” according to a new study by an associate professor at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.Among U.S. hospitals that reported their rates of early elective deliveries in 2011, 14% of births were early elective deliveries, Reuters notes. That was a drop from 17% in 2010, but still higher than the 5% target set by the Leapfrog Group, a nonprofit that represents health care employers.“In some cases, there are medical reasons (for early delivery) whose risks far outweigh the potential danger to the baby,” the news service reports. “In other cases, there might not be a clear medical necessity, or some families and physicians might be scheduling births out of convenience.”Dr. Jennifer Bailit, the lead author of the study and an associate professor at Case Western Reserve's medical school, tells Reuters, “I think part of this has to do with the fact that we've had such great strides in the last 20 years or so on making premature babies better that people have gotten a little cavalier about babies who are just a little bit early.”The hope, she says, is that letting babies finish out the pregnancy “could reduce the chances that they will suffer any health problems associated with being born early.”

Our turn: Ohio is one of the newest players in a game states are playing to one-up each other as they chase gambling dollars.ThisNew York Times story notes that the “rapid expansion of gambling, as recession-wracked states have searched for new sources of money, has transformed the industry.” States that “once enjoyed near-monopolies on gambling … have been suffering the most in the new casino-dotted national landscape.”The Times says casinos in Pennsylvania, which just a few years ago began encroaching on the turf of Delaware and New Jersey, now face competition in Ohio from Cleveland and Toledo. (And soon, from Cincinnati and Columbus.)“The endless one-upmanship among states has some analysts wondering at what point the market will become saturated, and whether the industry has reached a point of diminishing returns,” the newspaper says.